World’s Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up comes to Sweetwater

SWEETWATER, TX (KWES) - The Annual Jaycee Rattlesnake Roundup will be March 8 to 10 at the Nolan County Coliseum.

There will be a Miss Snake Charmer pageant, carnival, cookoff, gun and knife show, flea markets, food vendors and more.

The roundup started in 1958 as a means to get rid of the snakes altogether but when the Sweetwater Jaycees took over, they turned it into a learning experience to teach rattlesnake safety.

“If you hear one stop, find him, locate where he is and then look around you and find the rest of them. Everybody says jump and run. Well, if you do you might get bit. They strike at the movement and the suddenness,” said Keith Wilmann, Jaycee Snake handler.